The ‘No Poo’ Project: Day 9

Baking soda! It’s my new favorite thing! Today I cleansed my hair in the shower with a mixture of one tablespoon baking soda and one cup warm water. When my hair dried, it was silky soft. Is this because of the baking soda or are my hair’s natural oils finally kicking in?

Soft waves are starting to appear in my daughter’s hair. She takes a bath in the evening, and afterward I loosely braid her locks so she doesn’t awake to an unruly mess in the morning. (This was actually a tip that came from a reader.) I’m finding that because her hair has more natural curl than mine, it requires more conditioner to feel soft and moisturized. This makes sense from what I have read in Lorraine Massey’s Curly Girl book (the bible for the ‘no poo’ movement):

Curly hair tends to be drier because there are about 100,000 hairs on a curly head as opposed to 120,000 straight hairs. Because there are fewer hairs, there are fewer follicles and fewer sebaceous glands to produce oils.

Many readers have emailed me asking which conditioner I use. A girlfriend works for Hamadi and generously gave me samples of the Shea Rice Milk Conditioner. It’s full of good stuff like shea butter to moisturize tresses, rice milk to nourish them, and ylang ylang for shine. I love the product and recommend it. Feel free to share the names of your favorite conditioners in the comments.

My hair after being cleansed with baking soda

For past posts on my ‘no poo’ experiment and why I decided to give up shampoo, click here.

Be sure to check out my Facebook page for more tips and tricks on going ‘no poo.’